When the ball went up, Matt Reida's head went down. He thought it had been hit too high, and that his college baseball career was about to close.

UK's Gary Henderson answers question about A.J. Reed

Then Kentucky's senior shortstop looked up and what he saw was salvation. He saw that the pop fly off of Thomas Bernal's bat was falling too fast for Kent State to field. He saw two teammates round third base and head for home plate. He saw elimination turn to jubilation and, soon enough, to celebration.

Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the ninth inning of an NCAA Tournament elimination game, and down to its final strike on four straight pitches, Kentucky rallied for a 4-2 victory over Kent State on Saturday afternoon behind the multitasking marvel called A.J. Reed, a gritty walk by Storm Wilson and Bernal's bases-loaded bloop double.

"You're talking about my laser to left, right?" Bernal joked during the postgame news conference. "When I hit it, I looked at the left fielder and saw he was playing by the (warning) track. I got lucky a little bit."

Seasoned ballplayers understand when they've been blessed. Much as they might prefer to attach heroic qualities to flares and flukes and unearned good fortune, their reflexive response is gratitude. They know the difference between dominance and deliverance. They know when they've dodged a bullet, particularly when they've been shooting blanks.

Kentucky pitcher A.J. Reed (center) celebrates a Cats' win over Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Storm Wilson, Austin Cousino and Thomas Bernal (left to right) celebrate as they walk to the dugout after the Cats go up 4-2 against Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. Greeting them is teammate Ryne Combs (right). May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Thomas Bernal smacks a one-run double and puts the Cats up 3-2 in the top of the 9th inning against Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Thomas Bernal smacks a one-run double and puts the Cats up 3-2 in the top of the 9th inning against Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s JaVon Shelby (left) is hugged by teammate Max Kuhn as the Cats beat Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Max Kuhn (9) points to teammate A.J. Reed for hitting him in to home for a run against Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Austin Cousino can't come up with this pop fly by Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Austin Cousino can't come up with this pop fly by Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s A.J. Reed (right) gets a hug from Assistant Coach Brad Bohannon (left) after the Cats win over Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s Matt Reida (6) and Connor Heady (7) celebrate a Cats come from behind win over Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky''s A.J. Reed hits a one-run double to put the Cats up 2-1 against Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

Kentucky' pitcher A.J. Reed (18) looks to deliver a pitch against Kent State on Saturday during the Louisville Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium. May 31, 2014 (Photo: David Lee Hartlage, Special to The C-J)

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"Before I get into how proud I am of our guys and what a good win that was, I want to acknowledge (Kent State pitcher) Nick Jensen-Clagg," UK coach Gary Henderson said.

"About the sixth inning, I was a little concerned that Nick's pitch total was so low that he might be able to go the distance. I thought if we could get him out of there, we would have a chance."

For 81/3 innings, Jensen-Clagg had held Kentucky to three widely spaced singles, confounding them with his changeup and inducing 11 airborne outs. He had pushed the Wildcats to the edge of elimination, and with enough fuel to finish the job, only to finally locate the barrels of UK's bats two outs short of a complete-game shutout.

Max Kuhn's one-out single brought Reed to the plate as the potential tying run, and Jensen-Clagg's subsequent balk left first base open for the Kentucky slugger. Yet rather than putting the tying run on base with an intentional walk, even in the person of the National Player of the Year, Kent State coach Jeff Duncan allowed Jensen-Clagg to challenge Reed, whose RBI double broke up the shutout and set the stage for the game's finishing drama.

Duncan took Reed's double as his cue to send for reliever John Fasola.

Henderson, meanwhile, replaced Reed with a pinch runner. Though the move eliminated him from UK's lineup, Reed was initially unaware that it did not prevent him from continued pitching. But if he was to pitch the bottom of the ninth, Kentucky still needed another run.

UK talks about 4-2 win over Kent State

Fasola struck out Ka'ai Tom for the inning's second out, but he walked Micheal Thomas and Storm Wilson to load the bases, four times failing to get a third strike past Wilson after getting ahead in the count, one ball and two strikes.

Up came Bernal. Down went his bloop/laser to left field, just beyond the range of the oncoming Troy Summers.

"I put my head down at first," Reida said. "Then I started to look up and I remember the wind was blowing in. I saw the guy was playing pretty deep and it seems like the closer you got to it, it just started falling."

"My first thought was it was going to get out," Reed deadpanned. "But then I saw the wind was blowing."

Be it ever so humble, Bernal's blow looks like a laser in the scorebook.

Tim Sullivan can be reached at 502-582-4650 by email tsullivan@courier-journal.com and on Twitter @TimSullivan714.